On October 12, 1966, the first models of a new car, ZAZ-966, popularly known as “big-eared”, rolled off the assembly line of the Komunar plant (later the Zaporizhzhia Automobile Plant).

The development of the new model began in the spring of 1961, but the first serial Zaporozhets of the second generation came off the assembly line only in 1966. And although the early prototypes of the ZAZ-966 had an original appearance, the final version is very similar to the German NSU Prinz IV (1961).

Photo of the day: ZAZ-966

The exact number of ZAZ-966 produced is unknown, but ZAZ was able to produce 100,000 vehicles per year only in 1973 after the ZAZ-966 was replaced by the next model, the ZAZ-968.